South Plains Financial Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,327 Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

South Plains Financial Inc. bought a new position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,327 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $268,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WM. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 892.9% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 139 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Management during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. General Partner Inc. bought a new stake in Waste Management in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other news, EVP John J. Morris sold 19,153 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.71, for a total transaction of $4,303,870.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,257 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,158,100.47. This represents a 18.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 5,826 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.12, for a total transaction of $1,294,071.12. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,424,457.04. This represents a 7.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 93,924 shares of company stock valued at $21,298,176 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Waste Management from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. HSBC raised Waste Management from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $210.00 to $265.00 in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $260.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $243.29.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of WM traded up $1.04 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $234.98. The company had a trading volume of 1,031,451 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,642,824. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $196.59 and a 1 year high of $239.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.76. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $228.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $220.44.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $6.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.14 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 37.93%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.75 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Waste Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Waste Management's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.77%.

About Waste Management

Waste Management, Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of environmental solutions to residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers in the United States and Canada. It offers collection services, including picking up and transporting waste and recyclable materials from where it was generated to a transfer station, material recovery facility (MRF), or disposal site; and owns and operates transfer stations, as well as owns, develops, and operates landfill facilities that produce landfill gas used as renewable natural gas for generating electricity.